The Budget left a lot of questions unanswered

Third level placements awarded to theinnovators of tomorrow at BT BusinessBootcampteam of five school students, includingone from Bangor’s South Eastern RegionalACollege, who work-shopped the projectSmart Pipe: An automated water circulation antifreezingsystem were chosen as the best overallgroup at the 2012 BT Young Scientist BusinessBootcamp, held at University College Dublin.They were evaluated by a panel of expertjudges and course mentors and selected as theteam that developed most during theprogramme.The members of the team are Adam Torrens(19) from South Eastern Regional College,Bangor; Matt Murtagh White (17) from KilkennyCollege, Kilkenny; Emer Creedon (16) fromRegina Mundi College, Cork; Deirdre Harford (17)from Loreto Secondary School, Balbriggan,Dublin; and Megan Doyle (16) from SkerriesCommunity College, Dublin. Daniel Hobbs (17)from Maynooth Post Primary, Co Kildare wasrecognised as the best individual student duringthe week.The winners are awarded a summerplacement at one of the leading third leveluniversities across the island of Ireland. The BTYoung Scientist Business Bootcamp is a weeklong business mentoring and skills programmedevised and delivered by BT and NovaUCD.Following the intensive week of training andworkshops, some students have stated they willchange their academic direction, and in turntheir future career, based on what they learntduring the week at UCD. Ninety per cent ofthose attending this week also stated theyanticipate economic recovery to take 7 – 10years while most students would like to pursuemedical, science or business degrees at thirdlevel.Selected from January’s BT Young Scientist &Technology Exhibition, 32 students whodemonstrated an understanding ofcommercially viable opportunities, businessacumen and innovative flair took part in theprogramme.Each student receives a certificate ofachievement upon completing the programme.Summer placements at NUI Galway, University ofLimerick, UCD, and University of Ulster will beavailable for the winners. In addition JamesEggers, St. Michael’s College, Dublin has beenoffered both commercial space and theopportunity to pitch his idea at the next DublinWeb Summit in October 2012.James’ project is ‘the detection of incidents onroads in real-time with Twitter and trafficcameras’.Over the course of the four days the studentsparticipated in a number of business focusedworkshops from business planning andintellectual property management to designthinking and communications. Using these skillsthe group developed concepts ranging from ‘todevelop a mathematical learning andcommunication tool for Autistic children inmainstream primary school’ ‘’ to ‘producing Irishgrown dessert apples in favour of importing asubstitute’.Congratulating the winners and participantson the BT Young Scientist Business BootcampShay Walsh, managing director Business, BTsaid “All of the students have brought greatenthusiasm and creativity to their activities andpresentations this week. This programmebridges the gap between classroom andboardroom, and in doing so recognises theinnovators of tomorrow.”He added “The programme is a great exampleof how a platform like this can imbed an ethosof entrepreneurship and innovation in talentedstudents who are inspired by science andengineering.”For further information, log on to:www.btyoungscientist.com or phone 0800 9171297.12